During a time of unemployment, some individuals make finding a full-time job into their main pursuit. After putting in long hours and hard work, something ultimately comes through and the task is done. Then there are those people who work for themselves. While freelancing allows great latitude and more control over what you do and the time you spend doing it, it also confines you within the realm of constantly seeking out work and renegotiating your terms of employment. There is more job security, as you control your own destiny, so to speak, being your own boss and in charge of seeking out new projects. And yet, there is less security, for there is no way of telling how long that lag between the end of a project and the beginning of a new one will be. Read on for a list of negotiating tips, so that you can ensure you get the most out of your freelancing experience.

Write it Down

First and foremost, whenever you negotiate a contract with an employer, be absolutely sure to put all terms down in writing. If you instead opt to commit to something verbally, you run the risk of having an employer change the terms on you, or conveniently remembering them in a different way. Write it down, and should troubles arise, you can take your documents to a third party and settle the problem accordingly.

Agree to a Price Upfront

When you discuss project details with an employer, it’s important to discuss compensation at the outset. Don’t wait until you’re halfway through the job to bring it up – by that point you might already be too embroiled in the work to easily get out of it if an employer refuses to compensate you properly. And never, under any circumstances, hand over work without first agreeing on the value of your efforts. If you turn over your work without first setting a price, you turn over all power.

Set a Date

Negotiate a date on which you will be paid in full – and write this down in the original contract. That way, you hold an employer accountable, and if they fail to hold up their end of the bargain, you can pursue the next necessary course of action. If you don’t set a date, you give the employer the opportunity to continue pushing off payment later and later, which keeps you in a state of limbo and prolongs an already unhealthy business relationship.

Procure a Retainer Fee

After you have set a price and a pay date, require that your employer pay you a retainer fee. This is an amount of money that an employer pays you upfront in order to secure your services. Even once you draw up a contract with an employer, you can still run into a tricky situation at the end of your business relationship: your employer may claim that you did not live up to the terms of your end of the bargain, or may lack the finances to pay out to you in the end. A retainer fee ensures that you do see at least some of the money for your work, regardless of your employer’s funds or their opinion on the quality of your work.

Understand the Time Commitment

It’s important to have as thorough understanding of the project as possible, at least to a point where you know how much time you will be spending on it. Why? Several reasons. Some people may wish to negotiate pay based on an hourly rate. If you originally underestimate how much time a project will take you, it may be difficult to go back and convince your employer of the time that the work actually took, and of how much you truly deserve to be paid. It’s also imperative to know how much time you need to devote to the project so that you manage your time well. Getting the work in on time is built into your part of the contract, and failure to do so may delay or nullify payment. Finally, understanding time constraints can be helpful so that you can convey this information to the employer. If you establish exactly how long you will be spending on a project with an employer beforehand, you can avoid having them demand superfluous work or hours from you throughout the process.

Understand the Project

A nice segue from the discussion on time commitment, you must understand the project you are undertaking, and so should your employer. If you are asked to complete one thing, make sure that this is the thing that you deliver in the end. This will help keep you on track, as well as lessen the likelihood that an employer will claim that you did not provide the work you were supposed to, thus ensuring that you don’t run into unnecessary issues when it comes to getting your paycheck.

Freelancing can be tricky – more often than not, you don’t have someone else advocating on your behalf, and there are many uncertainties that you run into working for a new employer every few days, weeks, or months. But freelancing can also be a lot of fun. Who doesn’t like being their own boss and changing the scenery every now and then? Just follow these simple guidelines and enjoy the ride!

For some, the question “Have you ever been fired?” can inspire a pit in the stomach when the answer to that question is “Yes”. You may be among an unfortunate bunch who had a horrific experience at a company (or with a certain coworker or boss), ending in a not so ideal ending. And whether your termination was your fault or not, it can continue to haunt you in your search for future prospects. So what is the best way to field this tough issue?

Be Honest

First things first: don’t lie. It may be tempting to dismiss the topic altogether, hoping that the company you’re interviewing with never finds out – but what happens if they do? If they find out during the interview process, you’re certain not to get the job. And if they find out a few years down the line, no matter how great an employee you are, they may still decide to let you go. A second termination is not what you want on your record, so do yourself a favor and be upfront and honest from the get go. It’s much safer, and you’ll stress about if far less in the long run.

Provide Some Context

Explain the circumstances surrounding the incident. If it was a conflict of interest, let the interviewer know. If it happened 15 years ago, tell them that you now have a lot of distance from the incident and that your stellar work performance since then speaks for itself. If it occurred in the more recent past, explain that you have learned quite a bit from the incident, but don’t spend your time making excuses. Lay down the facts, and focus on what you’ve done since and will do in the future to demonstrate that you are a valuable employee who understands what it takes to be an asset to a company.

Don’t Give Away Too Much

While it’s important to be forthcoming in your response to this question, you also don’t want to spend too much time addressing the matter. Keep the focus of the interview on what makes you the ideal person to hire, and spend as little time as you can conveying what the interviewer needs to know about that particular incident. People who feel the need to defend themselves tend to over-explain, and this can portray lack of confidence and lead you down the wrong road. Certainly stray away from speaking ill of your former boss or company, remaining as objective and succinct as possible.

No one likes getting fired and everyone wants to find a new job. Don’t let one obstacle in your past set the tone for the rest of your career. Concentrate on what you need to do to land your next job and on the reasons you’re a perfect fit for it, and the rest will follow.

Himani

“I ended up at Doostang after trying multiple job seeking platforms. The experience here was so much more interactive, unlike other places that felt like a black hole – sucking my applications with no response.

In contrast, at Doostang I was impressed by features like status notifications, which showed me when my resume was downloaded and which employer viewed it.

There is a great amount of credibility in Doostang, so I could be sure that my unique skill sets and qualifications would reach the right set of employers.

I’ve been ‘job watching’ for almost 2 years, and I’ve never seen such a relevant aggregation of specific ‘field-positions’ until Doostang.

Their investment management space in finance has the most updated and selective postings. And that’s how I landed my job at Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Doostang has been an ideal platform for me to end up at my dream job in venture capital.

Maintaining a good reputation at work is a delicate balance. Because business is business, and there is usually a lot of stress circulating around an office, people are quicker to judge and slower to forgive. That’s why it’s important to get off to a solid start and do what you can to remain in the good graces of both your superiors and your coworkers. Here are a few behaviors to avoid:

Asserting Yourself as the New Guy

When you’re the new guy, it can be tempting to want to enter with a bang, but sometimes this can be a huge turnoff. If you start off trying to revolutionize things too quickly, people might become offended about the fact that you’re trying to change everything around, and put you back in your place. While you may have the best of intentions, try to hold back just a little bit, adding your two cents when it seems natural or when you are asked – not when you have to fight to get a word in. When you first get to a company, take some time to learn what they are about and what they are trying to do, and this will likely enable you to contribute in a more valuable way. After all, you may feel that you have some very enlightened observations to provide, but these may have already been observed previously (possibly more than once), and broaching the same topic all over again will just make everyone feel like you’re beating a dead horse.

Overextending Yourself

Many people feel that they will actually build a greater reputation by being a “Yes Man”. Indeed, all companies value reliable employees. But if you get to the point where you are saying “yes” to everything, you may reach a point where the quality of all of your work suffers, or you may find yourself unable to get to certain projects at all. It’s important to learn what you can and cannot do, and to budget your time wisely. It’s perfectly fine to explain to your boss that you simply have too much on your plate to take on another project at the moment – he or she will likely respect you for this.

Failing to Check In

Your boss manages a lot of people, and by extension, manages a lot of projects. He has a lot on his plate, and so you figure you’ll spare him the headache by getting your work done first and then running it by him. But this can be a huge mistake. If you’re working on a big project, it’s probably a good idea to update your boss on your progress and allow him to offer feedback. Managers like to feel that they are a part of the work, and may become aggravated when you try to run off with it on your own. Additionally, when you fail to check in and end up doing something incorrectly, you’ll create more work for yourself and irritate your boss even more.

As you can see, much of maintaining a good reputation at work relies on learning how to communicate well – and this means being able to talk as well as listen. So avoid the above pitfalls, and stay tuned for our next installment of behaviors that have the propensity to ruin an individual’s work reputation!

Jiajia

“I recently received and accepted an internship offer to work for a venture capital group in New York.

I got the interview offer just one week after I sent my application materials through Doostang.

It is a really great opportunity for a fresh finance graduate to land a position in venture capital. I am a graduate student in finance from University of Rochester, and as an international student, it is really hard for me to get an opportunity to work in the U.S. Recruiting for summer internships fades away quickly by the end of winter, and on-campus recruiters are relatively limited because of geographic disadvantages.

Doostang provides a great chance to reach out to all kinds of job opportunities and it updates information quickly.

I started my summer internship search late, but I still found a lot of interesting openings all across the country. Besides, Doostang’s job searching tools are so considerate that you can easily find positions in your targeted areas, so it saved me a lot of time in job searching.

Every time a potential employer downloads your resume, you’ll get an email notice, meaning you are no longer ‘blindly’ waiting for an interview offer.

I’m so glad that my friend recommended Doostang to me and I’m totally satisfied with the service. I think I’ll stick to Doostang for all my future job searching.”

Competition for job openings continues to be fierce. But you can set yourself apart by smartly displaying your strengths, specialized training, and accomplishments to beat out the competition! Use the ideas below to develop your plan to showcase your strengths.

Flaunt Professional Development Activities

Perhaps you aced the latest company training session, or sought out additional educational activities on your own. Maybe a graduate project translated into thousands in savings or local exposure for the company. Flaunt those accomplishments in your resume and cover letter to set yourself apart from other candidates who lack such initiative.

Highlight Certifications

Certifications, licensure, and train-the-trainer experiences are uncommon accomplishments typically reserved for high-performance staff. Simply listing certifications and licensure raises your background above the competition because the additional effort required to achieve professional standards is well known and is recognized as well beyond most candidates. Likewise, being singled out to train trainers is another example of high-level performance.

Review Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Customer satisfaction ratings are gathered in many different fields, from sales to healthcare. Course and training evaluations are another form of customer satisfaction surveys. If your company doesn’t use any kind of satisfaction ratings, look at this measurement from the opposite side – reduction of consumer complaints. Outstanding customer service across internal and external divisions is a highly valued skill.

Applaud Your Own Accomplishments

Review your experience in terms of traditional achievements such as exceeding quotas, but also highlight teamwork awards and yes, even employee-of-the-month kudos! The key is to include details about your performance that set the foundation for those awards, presenting accomplishments in terms of value for the employer. For example, what did you do that others did not? What happened as a result of your performance, idea, or strong customer relationships? List positive outcomes across all levels, for example:

· Increased morale

· Higher profit margins

· Streamlined procedures

· Fewer absentee days

Outline Technological Innovations

Did you re-vamp a website to increase traffic and sales? How about automating manual records with a spreadsheet program? You may consider these routine activities, but such accomplishments definitely distinguish you from the crowd!

Explain Team Contributions

Did you make the boss look good? In what ways did you anticipate a change that allowed your manager to come out on top? What projects, programs, or initiatives did you manage? What trends did you forecast? In what collaborative projects did you participate? Examples may include:

· Spearheading highest earning United Way Campaign in company history

· Garnering community support for employee recognition event

· Identifying new B2B partnerships

Show Your Career Progression

Do your resume, LinkedIn profile, and personal website tell the story of increasing responsibility throughout varied positions? Think of your business card and resume as promotional pieces for your personal brand. What do these say about you? Do they invite the reader to engage with you and learn more about your career progression?

Avoid Negative Distinction

Even though distinguishing yourself from the tight competition is a plus, you also have to be conscious of how you will be perceived. You don’t want to set yourself apart in a negative way. Photos of yourself, brightly colored paper, and unusual or colored fonts are all examples of how you may damage your personal image rather than strengthen it.

Think about the image you want to present to impress hiring managers and showcase your strengths. All the aspects discussed above contribute to the employer’s first impression of you. When that impression is positive, they absolutely want to learn more about you. A polished resume will stop the hiring manager from sifting through the endless pile of candidates and get them to call you! Showcase your accomplishments and distinguish yourself from the competition to impress hiring managers and land that new job.

Chris

“I recently graduated from Florida State University’s Master of Science in Finance program. I was looking for a career in which I would play a vital role in research and investment strategies with a large company with international exposure. A friend of mine had referred me to Doostang, and I could not be happier for the advice.

While the job market is still tight, Doostang did a great job of consolidating the job opportunities into an easy application process, where I knew my resume and cover letter were being viewed.

We all know how cut-throat the internet job search can be, but Doostang took out a lot of the heavy lifting in the job search process by allowing me to filter my searches toward the career ventures I deemed relevant, but also ones that I had a decent shot at, being an entry level candidate from a non-target school.

I received three calls back about openings before I found my dream job. I interviewed at all three, and received an offer from a PE firm.

The opportunity wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, so I continued sending out my cover letter and resume until I got an email from my current employer. After two phone screens, I was flown up to Boston, where I interviewed and got the job.

The firm manages over $47 billion of assets and securities, and was just the international exposure I was looking for! This opportunity has put me in a position to get experience at a high quality investment management firm, and sets me up perfectly to continue my own personal education by offering to pay for the CFA.

I have spent years cold calling and networking, trying to get an opportunity that just took me seconds to get my foot in the door for via Doostang.

You can’t put a price on a website that is so filter-friendly, and ensures you with alert features that your resume is being viewed by potential employers. This website was great to help me narrow down the job function and industry that fit my personality and career aspirations. I will continue to, and have been referring Doostang to friends and family. Thanks Doostang!”

We all have those days when it’s difficult to stay motivated. And if you’re looking for a job – a task that can drag on for weeks and weeks with no end in sight – it may become even more difficult to maintain your enthusiasm and stay positive as time goes by. Obviously, getting discouraged is the last thing anyone wants while trying to get things moving and land the perfect position. So here are a few tips to help keep you motivated:

Reward Yourself

While the ultimate reward is that great job you’ll eventually snag, it’s important to treat yourself along the way. There are dozens of ways you can go about this. Perhaps you reward a great week of job hunting with a Friday night movie or happy hour with friends. If you need more encouragement along the way, unwinding with a favorite TV show or a bowl of ice cream can help get you through a long day of job applications. Or maybe you’re the type of person who needs little incentives throughout the day, such as a quick stroll through the park or a flip through your favorite magazine. It’s imperative to give yourself something to look forward to, if only to clear your head from all of the time and energy you spend looking for a job. But also try to truly position these indulgences as rewards – things you can enjoy if you reach the goals you have set for yourself. It’s great to go party with the guys at 5pm, but if you do it every single day regardless of whether or not you have been productive, it is less likely to be a huge motivator.

Find an Accountability Partner

When it comes to getting things done, it can be easy to blow your responsibilities off and procrastinate for a bit, but far more difficult to let someone else down. So find someone you can trust – a person that you know will hold you to your work – and check in to update them on your progress. Doing this also keeps things in perspective for you, and it forces you to take a look at your actual progress. Sometimes it’s helpful to choose an accountability partner who is trying to achieve a goal of their own – a fellow job seeker, perhaps – so that you can build off of each others’ momentum and support each other.

Create a Working Environment Conducive to Your Work Style

Since you’re likely going to be sitting in one place for an extended period of time while you’re looking for a job, try to create a working environment that is conducive to work. For some people, this means removing all distractions. For others, it means creating a friendly space full of personal touches. Some individuals may need to select one space and stick to it, so that they can train their minds to go into “work mode” whenever they enter this space. Others may need to vary their setting in order to avoid becoming too antsy. The best, most productive working environment is different for everyone, so figure out your style and play to your strengths.

Staying motivated is difficult – just don’t get disheartened when you’re not feeling completely jazzed about the job search. It’s perfectly fine – and actually advisable – to take breaks every now and then. And while inspiration itself can be difficult, working on ways to inspire yourself is something that’s much easier to manage!

Many job seekers attempt to use a functional format to emphasize specific skills or to cover up problems with the resume, such as job gaps, brief employment periods, or multiple jobs in a short time period. Or you may be trying to brand yourself, in modern terms, with the functional approach. Personal branding is a great idea, but be aware, the functional resume is not the way to create your brand.

Even though branding is a popular marketing concept for corporations, the transition to personal branding isn’t always as easy to establish. Brainstorm for a minute. Think of a professional you admire, whether someone in the media or in your own company. Analyze what makes their brand so easily identifiable. Now apply that analysis to your career. How do others consistently describe you? What is your specialty niche?

Identify Basic Skills

Make a list of your unique skills, training, or professional experiences to start. Review your career progression to tease out all the basic skills that align with the types of positions you are seeking. These skills form the foundation of your qualifications for positions and most likely equate with the “responsibilities” section in a job posting. These basic skills may not define your passion or your brand, but are important in helping you qualify for a position.

Categorize Unique Talents and Experiences

Next, match skill sets with your current career goals. Do you want to relocate abroad for your career? Mine your job history for global or international experience. Even if you did not travel, you might still have amassed experience in the international arena. Did you have sales accounts in Mexico or Canada? What about Pacific Rim accounts? Have you assisted in business development on the ground? Did you locate factories or suppliers overseas? These unique experiences can help you formulate your brand.

LinkedIn (Branding Profile)

LinkedIn is a great place to begin establishing your personal brand. The profile has specific sections regarding your education, key experiences, and areas of professional emphasis. Think about how you want to use this professional site. Are you trying to connect with others? Gain referrals? Get a job? The goals you have for the use of this professional networking site will reflect your emerging personal brand.

Join Professional Organizations that Mirror Your Desired Direction

Another important resource for broadcasting your brand is professional organizations. Research those organizations that align with your current career goals. You may need to conduct a broad search, such as “business development professional organization,” to discover new groups. Many professional organizations have useful member sections online to post your career interests or job search goals. These resources are a great way to solidify your personal brand.

Branding Strategies in Your Resume

Finally, consider how you will present your personal brand in a resume. Remember, the functional format may seem like the logical way to present a consistent brand, but most hiring managers prefer a chronological approach. In addition, the functional resume can be confusing to readers as they try to place your accomplishments with different companies or create a time frame of your work experience. The chronological approach provides a history of how your personal brand has become more defined over the last 10 to 15 years. A chronological approach is straightforward and provides a clear sense of what you have been doing professionally, an important component of your brand. You don’t want to raise questions in the mind of the reader about potential employment gaps, which is often the case with a functional format. Your personal brand will be clearly highlighted in a work history that describes your career progression in terms of skills and increasing levels of responsibility.

Establishing a personal brand requires complex planning and a clear direction just like any successful marketing campaign! Identify your strengths and align those with your goals for effective personal branding. Then spread the word and watch the opportunities grow!

When searching for the perfect job, it’s important not to forget one key component: geography. Where you are and where you’re looking can have a huge impact on the work you eventually find. It’s important to consider the upsides to where you’re currently located, as well as the upside to packing your bags and relocating!

Look Elsewhere

If you find that you’re just not landing the position you want, figure out if you’re searching in the right place. Perhaps you’re having a difficult time finding a job in academia – consider moving your search into a college town or a suburban area with lots of public schools. If you want to go into entertainment, perhaps you should be scouring opportunities in Southern California instead of Southern Iowa. When looking for jobs, it’s easy to forget to look outside the boundaries of our own neighborhood. Contemplating relocation might be difficult, but it might just be the solution.

It’s Not Forever

It’s important, too, to realize that relocating is not something that’s “forever” if you don’t want it to be. For example, if you want to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, it’s often the case that you have to relocate to a smaller market, which may require moving to the middle of nowhere. But as you gain experience and recognition, you can transition to a bigger market in a bigger city. Sometimes you need to get your start in a place where you don’t see yourself staying long term – remember that it’s just the first step.

Quality of Life

One thing to consider when you are looking at relocating is the quality of life that you’ll find when you do. Is having a family important to you, and will a certain city lend itself well to raising one? Can you see yourself living in a big city or a rural countryside? Your job is important, but so is your quality of life. Don’t forget to factor that in when searching for the perfect position.

Available Networks

A factor that may affect your decision to move to another city is the networks that will be available to you when you get there. Perhaps it’s wise to stick around the area where you went to college, as you’ll have an extensive alumni network there. It might also be helpful to move back to the town you grew up in. There are many different networks that you can use to your advantage, and it’s up to you to figure out where you can take advantage of them.

When looking for a job, the sole focus for many people is often the job itself. But don’t forget that location is just as important, and could be the key to why you’re not currently finding the job that you want!